By Jessica Domel

Pencils. Paper. And paste. It’s back-to-school time and that can only mean one thing.  School supplies!

Texas children will head back to classrooms with backpacks full of supplies made with the help of Texas farmers and ranchers.

So get in the groove and enjoy these products made from Texas-grown goodies:

*Books are for learning. And Texas timber growers like John Bradley in East Texas grow trees that are processed to make our textbooks, notebooks and loose-leaf paper.

*Let’s color, Texas! Did you know many crayons contain corn or corn byproducts to keep the crayons together? Many manufacturers also use a corn-based adhesive to ensure wrappers stay on the colors as long as possible.

*We all make mistakes. Thanks to soybean growers like Sam and Shannon Sparks, we can erase the mistake and start anew.

*We can’t all use finger paints, but the kids who do can paint pictures for mom and dad thanks, again, to soybean farmers.

*Dress to impress, y’all. Back-to-school favorites like jeans, t-shirts and stylish socks are all made with cotton grown by people like pre-teen Britton Pointer.

Agriculture touches our lives in so many ways each day. These are just a few of the instances where our Texas farmers and ranchers grow items that help us in our everyday lives. Find other ways corn, soybeans, wheat, beef, poultry and other Texas products are used on BeAgSmart.org.